May You be merciful and bless us. May Your face smile with favor on us. May Your ways be known throughout the earth, Your saving power among people everywhere. May the nations praise You, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Let the whole world sing for joy, because You govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world. [Psalm 67, NLT]
Holy Spirit Your word says: “What does the worker gain from his struggles? I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all His efforts. I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him. Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. However, God seeks justice for the persecuted.” [Ecclesiastes 3:9-15]
Holy Spirit help me to appreciate the beauty of God and the beauty of His creation even though we have done everything to scar, break, and destroy this beauty. Help me to fathom as Solomon the reality that time is born out of who we are but eternity or the lack of time is the reality of God. When I start to truly look at life from beginning to end, I realize that I know so little. I realize the full meaning of when Isaiah wrote: For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. [Isaiah 55:8&9] For how do I a finite person see the world as an eternal God does? Yet, You walk with us daily, talk to us daily, and open our eyes to see the reality of who You are and the love You have for us. I realize that when I look around I often only see the darkness, evil, sin, and shame that man and Satan have done to this world, instead of seeing the hope, life, and love of Jesus that You are shining through all this. Help me to be stronger in my faith and deeper in my understanding of the depth of Your love for us. Help me to see the wonder, signs, and miracles that You bestow each day. Help me to realize just how miraculous it is that we live in a world that is just tilted right so we can have life, growth, and food. That our gravity is just perfect so that we don’t float away or be crushed. That we have just the right mix in the air that we can breathe and live. That we, out of all Your creation, have the power to do good or bad, be righteous or sinful, create beauty or destroy it, can improve the world or ruin it. I can hardly fathom why You care for us when we so often choose to ignore, shun, or even hate You. Your wisdom is so benevolent that we often misunderstand it.
I thank my God always concerning the grace of God which was given to me by Christ Jesus, that I am enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in me, so that I come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm me to the end, that I may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom I am called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [1Corinthians 1:4-9]